The Avian Flu outbreak hit Iowa especially hard. It’s had a near catastrophic effect on the Iowa poultry industry, and the economic impact will likely total in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Overall, 223 detections have occurred affecting 48 million birds in the United States. Almost two-thirds of those birds were in Iowa.
It’s fair to say that all levels of government learned a great deal during the outbreak, and admittedly still have a lot to figure out. Federal officials, as well as producers whose farms have been hit by Avian Flu, came before the Senate Agriculture Committee last week to talk through some of the issues. It was the start of a very important dialogue within the Congress, and brought attention to the concerns of producers with the response by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Committee members were able to learn more about the effort to contain the disease from both producers and the government, and there were some clear areas for improvement identified. We also discussed what can be done to prevent the spread of the disease in the future.
The next day, we received word that Gov. Terry Branstad’s request for a Presidential Disaster Declaration to assist with the impact of the Avian Flu had been denied by the Obama administration. After the Senate Agriculture Committee hearing and listening to testimony from producers who were affected, it was very clear that the outbreak caused a significant magnitude of damage throughout the state. The Administration’s own veterinarian said that it was the largest animal health emergency in the country’s history, and one Iowa producer said he lost two-thirds of his birds to the disease.
Moving forward, as producers work to rid their farms of the disease and repopulate their flocks, Congress will be looking at a couple things, including creating an insurance fund for poultry and turkey along the same lines as we have for other segments of agriculture, and determining if additional funds to fight the disease need to be allocated.